WhatsApp conversations submitted for forensic examination by Yecika Magle Bracho Atacho link, according to the report, Deputy Minister of Communications Alejandra Duarte Albospino to cash withdrawals and the operations of Azafrán SA and Prana SA, companies associated with the creation of pages linked to the so-called Disinformation Network. The records cover the period from 2021 to 2023, including Santiago Peña’s time in government.
On November 17, 2021, Sergio Masero, Azafrán’s representative, told Bracho that a woman had withdrawn US$7,420 from the agency. The person was later identified as Duarte. In December of that year, further conversations indicated that she would return to the office to carry out other transactions.
Another episode occurred on March 27, 2023, a few days before the election in which Santiago Peña was elected. The messages initially referred to Duarte making the US$6,700 withdrawal, but indicate that Tatiana González Amaya, a Colombian Azafrán executive and Duarte’s friend, ultimately collected the money. The chronology is presented as an indication of a connection between Azafrán and Prana, where Duarte served as digital director.
The conversations also record a credit invoice issued in Prana’s name on May 24, 2023, for G. 330,000 for 20 telephone SIM cards. The document was voided after Masero asked for a photograph of the invoice and Bracho replied that she would redo the receipt with “the correct description.” Azafrán reportedly repeatedly requested the urgent creation of telephone lines; Bracho created two of them, and the pages Despierta Paraguay and Paraguay Elige used them.
Laura Leguizamón, Prana’s director, said the company had no connection with Azafrán’s local operations, although she acknowledged several years of collaboration in programmatic advertising on social media.
The most recent record cited occurred on November 24, 2023, during the Peña government. The messages indicate that US$1,300 in cash, kept in a safe, would be collected by Rita González, who would bring the invoice later. María Rita González Samaniego is Duarte’s chief of staff at the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies (Mitic). She was seconded by the Council of the Magistracy to the ministry on September 1, 2023, with authorization from Minister Gustavo Emigdio Villate Samaniego.
Bracho, a former employee of Azafrán’s lawyer and local adviser, Gabriel Boero, handed over the conversations. The report presented the records as part of an investigation, but the conversations alone do not establish the purpose or legality of the payments or prove any possible criminal responsibility. Comparing the cash-withdrawal chronology, the voided invoice, SIM-card activity, and the officials’ institutional roles identifies the connections described in the records without proving an illegal or criminal relationship. The pages associated with the Disinformation Network reportedly expanded their activity after the November episode.